西宁
Xining
The gateway to Tibet and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau — a multicultural frontier city of Tibetan monasteries, Muslim mosques, and high-altitude lakes.
西宁
The gateway to Tibet and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau — a multicultural frontier city of Tibetan monasteries, Muslim mosques, and high-altitude lakes.
Xining is the capital of Qinghai Province and the starting point for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to Lhasa. At 2,275m, it's a natural acclimatization stop before heading higher. The city sits at the intersection of Tibetan, Hui Muslim, and Han Chinese cultures — the Dongguan Mosque is one of the largest in northwest China, while Kumbum Monastery (Ta'er Si), 25km away, is one of the six great monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism's Yellow Hat sect. From Xining, you can reach Qinghai Lake (China's largest saltwater lake), the Chaka Salt Lake (a mirror-flat salt flat), and the annual Tibetan horse festivals in Yushu.
